One of the men arrested in the Faubourg Contrecoeur municipal corruption case is to be sentenced at the Montreal courthouse on Tuesday afternoon.
The Crown is recommending a prison sentence of two years less a day for Daniel Gauthier, who pleaded guilty to fraud in the Faubourg Contrecoeur case as the trial opened in February.
His lawyer is calling for a suspended sentence or a six- to 12-month sentence to be served in the community.
Gauthier was one of nine people arrested by Quebec’s anti-corruption squad, UPAC, in May 2012 following an investigation into a real-estate deal in which the Société d’habitation et de développement de Montréal, a city agency, sold municipal land at the Faubourg Contrecoeur in 2007 for a housing project. The SHDM sold the land to Construction Frank Catania et Associés Inc. for $4.4 million, even though its municipal assessment was $31 million. The project was valued at $300 million.
Others arrested included former city executive committee chairman Frank Zampino, former political fundraiser Bernard Trépanier, Paolo Catania, who presided Construction Frank Catania & Associés, other executives and shareholders of the firm, and former SHDM director Martial Fillion, who has since died. The construction firm was also charged.
Gauthier is the only one of the accused to plead guilty. The trial for the others began in February, but has yet to hear any evidence or hear from any witnesses as the court has dealt with more than a dozen motions from lawyers for the defence.
Gauthier’s sentencing hearing ended in May, and Court of Quebec Judge Lori Renée Weitzman said at the time she would render a decision on his sentence on Sept. 13.
Gauthier, who describes himself as a retired urban planner, worked as a consultant for the city’s real-estate arm, the Société d’habitation et de développement de Montréal, to sell the city-owned Contrecoeur land for a residential project of more than 1,800 units.
Prosecutor Nicole Martineau argued that Gauthier bears responsibility in a scheme that sought to channel a development deal involving city land and taxpayer-funded grants to a firm that was chosen in advance, so his sentence ought to serve as a dissuasive measure.
A two-year prison sentence, less a day, should be followed by three years’ probation, Martineau said.
Meanwhile, Gauthier’s lawyer, Jean-Claude Hébert, presented his arguments in writing to the judge.
Gauthier, who presided Groupe Gauthier Biancamano Bolduc, wrote a business plan for the project for the SHDM and was on the selection committee that chose Construction Frank Catania et Associés as the winner.
Gauthier’s firm was initially mandated by the SHDM to meet with 16 developers to elicit their interest in the Contrecoeur project, although Gauthier told the court that he didn’t handle that task for his firm.
Under cross-examination, Gauthier said Construction Frank Catania et Associés had shown the most interest in the project among the 16 developers, so it was chosen by the SHDM to enter one-on-one negotiation to get the development deal. He also testified that Fillion, the general manager of the SHDM at the time, then inexplicably changed his mind two years into the process and decided to award the project through a call for proposals. At that point, he said, Construction Frank Catania et Associés had been involved in discussions about technical aspects and cost estimates for the project and so it had more information than other bidders.
However, Martineau argued that Gauthier’s claims had little credibility.
Martineau presented three drafts of the business plan Gauthier produced for the SHDM, all of which said there would be a call for proposals to award the deal. Martineau also argued that 13 firms acquired the bid package once the call for proposals was launched, and that five submitted bids in a qualifying round.
